I've been following with no shortage of interest the recent rumors that Google's developing glasses with built-in augmented reality displays. Initial reports came out last December, and were followed by more (supposed) information earlier this month (including the claim that they look like Oakley's Thump line, shown in the above image). And apparently, they're controlled (i.e. GUI element scrolling and selection, etc) either by voice commands or head-tilt gestures. From my standpoint, jabbering away at seeming-nothing (particularly when there's no visible Bluetooth earpiece to rationalize your actions) and seemingly-randomly twitching your noggin will both get you labeled as crazy by passers-by, but I digress…
The 9to5Google report claims that the glasses have one transparent and one opaque lens, the latter implementing the HUD (heads-up display), along with a front-facing camera (presumably substituting for the now-blocked eye). The hardware is supposedly analogous to that in a generation-old smartphone, although if I were a betting man, I'd wager that there's no built-in cellular data subsystem, only a Bluetooth tether to a separate smartphone. And (no surprise) the Google Glasses reportedly run Android.
More recently, the New York Times claims that Google plans to not only "soft-launch" the glasses to developers, as it did with the Cr-48 "Chromebook" that predated official Chrome OS-based netbook launches by Acer and Samsung, but to sell first-generation devices to early-adopter consumers. The prognosticated cost, "around the price of current smartphones," is pretty vague. But who knows…Google certainly has enough spare change in the coffers that it could afford to "throw the concept against the wall and see if it sticks" (or if you prefer, "run it up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes it")…for a few generations' worth of iterations, actually.
Would I wear them? Likely not. Very likely not. But then again, I don't wear sunglasses indoors (or, for that matter, when it's not bright outside). Plenty of other folks, on other hand, treat sunglasses as fashion accessories to be donned every waking moment. So…
